Because I Love It--A Thought-provoking Excerpt from The Element

The following is an excerpt from the book The Element. It's thought-provoking and inspiring.

"My brother Ian is a musician. He plays drums, piano, and bass guitar. Years ago, he was in a band in Liverpool that included an extremely talented keyboard player named Charles. After one of their gigs, I told Charles how well I thought he'd played that night. Then I said that I'd love to be able to paly keyboards that well. 'No, you wouldn't," he responded. Taken aback, I insisted that I really would. 'No,' he said. 'You mean you like the idea of playing keyboards. If you'd love to play them, you'd be doing it.' He said that to play as well as he did, he practiced every day for three or four hours in addition to performing. He'd been doing that since he was seven.

Suddenly playing keyboards as well as Charles did didn't seem as appealing. I asked him how he kept up that level of discipline. He said, 'Because I love it.' He couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Yes. This love is known as passion. With passion, we take delight in what we do, without feeling a little bit tired. Physically we might be exhausted, but mentally we have a strong sense of pleasure.